India Announces Crypto bill and Crypto prices Tank

Cryptocurrency prices on WazirX’s stock exchange in India plummeted after it was announced that it would ban all private cryptocurrencies.

Panic selling ensued after regulatory discussions broke out online regarding the WazirX exchange. This panic selling resulted in a huge drop In the price of cryptocurrencies. The price drop affected all leading crypto, including Ether and Bitcoin.

The announcement that was made by India’s parliament in their winter session was that of 26 new bills. These bills included the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021. This announcement was followed by a mass sell-off on WazirX. This led to a 14.8% drop in Bitcoin’s price. That is almost US$ 61,820.73 to US$52,650.55. Ether, Cardano, and other leading cryptocurrencies also experienced the tanking in prices on the local exchange.

Surprising Outcome

WazirX CEO, Nischal Shetty, spoke to one media outlet. They stressed that the Indian cryptocurrency market normally trades at a premium. This is in comparison to the international market. Shetty said that this panic selling contributed to the Indian market correcting itself and leading to prices reaching the global norm. The CEO also took to pointing out the number of use cryptocurrency use cases as assets and utilities.

Words of Wisdom for India

The chief executive officer of OKEx, Jay Hao, a cryptocurrency exchange also made his comment to Cointelegraph. Hao said India is home to the largest number of cryptocurrency holders on the globe. Jay added that the responsibility lay with the Indian government to protect the interests of the majority of cryptocurrency investors in this country.
What about India’s Crypto Ban?

Caroline Bowler, BTC Market’s CEO said that India’s ban on cryptocurrency will not last. She stated that it would be retrogressive and would not have any potential at protecting the interests of investors.

Resistance is Futile

Bowler added that because of how the technology is set up, the world’s governments can’t curb the cryptocurrency trade. The decentralized nature of the technology makes this unfeasible. Evan Luthra, another prominent voice in the blockchain space agreed with Bowler’s sentiments. Luthra, an Indian blockchain investor told Cointelegraph that it is indeed unfeasible for governments to limit access to cryptocurrencies. This is by the infrastructure’s deliberate design. Luthra turned to the recent developments of El Salvador’s rapid cryptocurrency infrastructure development and adoption as a worthy example. He believes that the Indian authorities will eventually have no choice but to accept and work with cryptocurrencies. Luthra added that the public had to first get used to crypto, then the banks, and now the government would have to learn and deal with crypto in the future of metaverses.

India’s Investors should not Panic

Shetty also gave a final word of advice. He directed it to Indian investors. Shetty advised them to have confidence in their lawmakers and not panic.

All these developments come after India’s parliamentary panel discussion that addressed crypto. Members of parliament conceded that cryptocurrency can not be stopped. However, they agreed that the industry should be regulated more sternly. India has over 20 million cryptocurrency investors. This makes the nation one of the largest cryptocurrency markets on the globe.

The Future

Mid this year, a Reserve Bank of India representative announced that the Reserve Bank of India intended to make a development. This development would be the beginning of an initial trial for a central bank’s digital currency. The Reserve Bank of India planned to commence before the end of 2021. With only a few days to go before 2021 is over, we wait to see what India’s authorities have in store and if they will indeed unleash their central bank digital currency as they said.

crypto regulation Market analysis Regulation